Duwe S, Fleischer C, Knödler B, Kühnl P, Pauli G, Ellerbrok H
Department of Virology, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany.
AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 1998 Dec 20;14(18):1645-7. doi: 10.1089/aid.1998.14.1645.
In most parts of Europe only a limited number of sporadic cases of HTLV-I infections have been identified. So far, the few cases found in Germany were individuals from endemic areas or with relations to endemic areas. Here we report an HTLV-I infection from an asymptomatic female German blood donor whose only known potential risk was a former partner from South America, where HTLV-I is known to be endemic. The DNA sequence of the LTR region was determined and a phylogenetic analysis indeed suggested homologies with HTLV-I sequences from South America.
